Ever since the cold-blooded murders of 16 Afghan civilians, we've been hearing about what a great guy the accused murderer was, about how he enlisted in the aftermath of 9/11, and about how completely out of character this act was for him. "He must have snapped," has been the constant refrain.
Well, maybe, but now some other facts are beginning to emerge about him, and to say the least, they don't paint him as quite such a prince, even before this act. It turns out that at the time he enlisted, he was trying to avoid answering questions about a massive stock fraud.
"He robbed me of my life savings," Gary Liebschner of Carroll, Ohio told ABC News.
Financial regulators found that Bales "engaged in fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, churning, unauthorized trading and unsuitable investments," according to a report on Bales filed in 2003. Bales and his associates were ordered to pay Liebschner $1,274,000 in compensatory and punitive damages but have yet to do so, according to Liebschner.
Many years ago, when I was clerking for a trial court judge, defense lawyers would occasionally ask that their client not be convicted of a serious crime -- typically a theft offense -- so that they could enlist in the military. That was distinctly the WRONG thing to say before my judge, who had gone into the army as a Private during WWII, and who was discharged as a Major after being nearly killed. His standard response to such pleas was that he had commanded a few soldiers like the defendant, and that he wouldn't dream of inflicting such a person on the military, or on some current commanding officer.
I've known people who suffered from PTSD, and it's a very serious problem. But none of the people I've known who had PTSD have calmly murdered 16 innocent people, including women and young children. That takes the same kind of lack of empathy that stealing someone's life savings involves. To say that this guy's actions are somehow because of his repeated deployments, and that "he just snapped," and "it could happen to anybody," as I've been repeatedly hearing, is an insult to everyone who has worn the uniform, suffered serious physical or emotional trauma, and yet who would far rather kill themselves than innocent people.
It will be interesting to see what else comes out about this guy between now and his trial.